Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee

Biography

Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee was sired by Ch. Three D Genghis Khan, and his dam was Ch. Clussexx Sprinkled With Dew; his breeders were Douglas Horn, Douglas Johnson and Dee Duffy. He was nicknamed "Stump" because he was brown, had stubby legs and resembled a tree stump.

Stump was owned by Cecilia Ruggles and Beth Dowd and handled by Scott Sommer, with whom he lived in Houston along with J.R., a Bichon Frise who won the Westminster Dog Show in 2001 and is also trained by Sommer.

Stump won the Sporting Group at Westminster in 2004, a year that saw him accumulate 50 "best in show" wins. After those victories, he was retired from competition. In January 2006 Stump was hospitalized with a serious illness, with what in retrospect turned out to be a hard-to-diagnose case of multiple bacterial infections. After a visit to Brittmoore Animal Hospital in Houston, Stump was referred to clinicians at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, and arrived there with "a body-wide infection, infection on his heart valves, fluid in his lungs, and disseminated intravascular coagulation (a blood coagulation disorder); he spent 13 days there, 12 of which were in intensive care.

Stump's 2009 Westminster victory was against 2500 dogs from 170 different breeds;it was his 51st career "best in show" win. Sommer said he expected Stump to return home and do little traveling following his victory, although his owner expected some travel representing the club and participating in publicity for Angel on a Leash, a New York-based program which sends therapy dogs into hospitals. According to The Wall Street Journal, as of May 2009 Stump has accumulated over 440,000 miles from Continental Airlines frequent flyer program.

Stump sired three pups named Root, Forest and Myrtle. Doug Johnson, Stump's co-breeder, also bred Brady, the Clumber Spaniel who won Westminster's Best in Show award in 1996. He died on September 25, 2012.

Westminster

Stump won the Sporting Group at Westminster in 2004. Stump's appearance at the 2009 Westminster Dog Show was a last-minute decision; Sommer waited until February 4, 2009, before deciding to show Stump there, less than one week before the show began. Sommer did little more to prepare him than walking him around his Houston driveway. Westminster Judge Sarl Brewster Tietjen said of the dog's long absence from the showing scene, "To bring a dog into the Garden who hasn't been showing, (Sommer) was a little insane."

Stump was characterized in the media as a crowd favorite at the 2009 Westminister show. Stump was named "Best in Show" in part because judges felt he had a "cheerful and tractable disposition" in keeping with the breed's standard. Among the front-runners Stump defeated were Tiger Woods the Scottish deerhound, Spirit the Giant Schnauzer and Lincoln the Brussels griffon. Judge Tietjen, who did not make her decision to crown Stump the victor until the last moment, said: “I didn’t know who he was or how old he was. He’s just everything that you’d want in the breed, and I couldn’t say no to him.” Stump became the oldest dog to win the title, a distinction previously held by Kirby, an eight-year-old Papillon and the 1999 winner.

In popular culture

Stump was the favorite of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the celebrity sex therapist, who witnessed his "Best in Show" victory. During the February 11, 2009 episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert, whose character often complains when passed over for awards, expressed anger Stump won the Westminster dog show instead of him; Colbert said of the Sussex Spaniel, "What does he have that I don't have? Look, my ear is floppy. Look how firm my haunches are! Look how silky my coat is! The secret? I crack a raw egg in my bowl."